Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who responded to our call for messages to your state Assembly representatives to ask for their support of Jeff Dinowitz’s bill that would have brought us a significant step closer to reverse mortgage availability for seniors in housing cooperatives. The legislative session ended without passage of this legislation, in part because the Assembly was concerned about consumer protections. Our plan is to amend the legislation to include these protections and to have our champions reintroduce it in both houses when the new session begins in January.

But now there is a threat to reverse mortgage availability for condominiums. HUD issued a ruling in May stating that it will no longer provide HECMs (its own reverse mortgages) to seniors in condominiums in certain states. While New York is not one of the states in question, CNYC is nevertheless submitting strong comments in opposition to this curtailment of availability of reverse mortgages.

CNYC will continue to keep members updated on developments.

YOUR HELP URGENTLY NEEDED ASK YOUR ASSEMBLY MEMBER TO
SUPPORT REVERSE MORTGAGESIN CO-OPS

Legislation that would allow Reverse Mortgages for seniors 70 and over who make their homes in cooperatives has passed the New York State Senate and has been introduced in the Assembly. If passed this would open the door for lenders not interested in FHA to begin to make reverse mortgage loans in NY State (despite 16 years of efforts by CNYC and the National Association of Housing Cooperatives, HUD has no intention of making reverse mortgage loans to cooperatives nor to write guidelines for reverse mortgage loans).

The Albany legislative session ends on June 17th, so we ask your support to help ensure that the Assembly bill is passed before then. It is bill # A.10246 sponsored by Jeff Dinowitz from Riverdale.

Please write to ask your own Assembly member to support it and write also to Keith Wright, chairman of the Housing Committee, which now has the bill. Assembly member Wright can be reached at wrightk@assembly.state.ny.us and you can find your own representative at nyassembly.gov/mem/.

Ask that they see to it that A.10246 passes this session. Briefly tell them what it will mean to you (and to the seniors in your building) as constituents.

Please copy CNYC on your correspondence. (Rothman@CNYC.coop)

Reverse mortgages enable senior to live on in the homes and the neighborhoods that have been theirs for many years. Owners of private homes and condominiums can already access reverse mortgages. We seek to make these loans available to seniors in cooperatives where the additional scrutiny of any loan by the board would help ensure that the loans are reasonable and affordable.

Many thanks,
Mary Ann Rothman
CNYC Executive Director

P.S. If Jeff Klein is your State Senator, please also write to thank him for having passes S. 7844

Thanks to everyone who helped make CNYC's 35th ANNUAL HOUSING CONFERENCE & EXPO
A GREAT SUCCESS!

The 35th Annual HOUSING CONFERENCE was held Sunday, November 15, 2015, at Baruch College in Manhattan, with classes on the ninth and fourteenth floors of the NEWMAN VERTICAL CAMPUS at 55 Lexington Avenue (East 24th Street).

This report contains important information about your water supply and the quality of your drinking water. Water quality test results from the drinking water supply are summarized in the tables in this report. Please go to
www.nyc.gov/dep/2014waterquality to view the report and learn more about your drinking water. For a translation of the report, or to speak with someone about the information in the report, please call 311. If you would like a paper copy of the report mailed to your home, please call 311 and DEP will mail you a paper copy.

For more information about the New York City Water Supply and to view previous yearsí reports, go to www.nyc.gov/dep.
Bill

REGISTER AND INSPECT COOLING TOWERS

The NYC Department of Buildings has asked CNYC to make its members aware that building owners and operators now have the opportunity to voluntarily register their cooling towers and evaporative condensers with the Department of Buildings. Online access to the registration form and additional information can be found at www.nyc.gov/buildings.

This voluntary registration is in anticipation of legislation that with the City Council's support, will establish regulations to be administered by the Department of Buildings and the Department of Mental Health & Hygiene for the regulation of cooling towers and evaporative condensers.

On Thursday, June 25, 2015, the State Senate and Assembly and Governor Cuomo came to agreements on rent regulation and the 421a incentive program for developers. With these issues finally settled, a four year extension of the property tax abatement program for home owners in New York City cooperatives and condominiums was included in the legislation passed by both houses that evening.

Thanks to the Department of Finance, this extender is seamless, because it was included on our property tax bills for the new fiscal year which begins on July 1st , saving condominium unit owners and cooperative corporations from confusion and cash flow problems.

On Friday morning, June 26, 2015 Governor Cuomo signed this legislation into law, continuing the abatement program in its present form through June 30, 2019.

ALL NYC BUILDINGS MUST FILE ANNUAL
PROPERTY REGISTRATION WITH HPD

Every NYC Building must file an online Property Registration form with HPD as required by the NYC Housing Maintenance Code by August 31, 2015. Management firms typically do this filing for their client buildings, but self-managed buildings will want to be sure not to miss the deadline. Here are the instructions :

Check on the status of your registration and registration history at any time.

Even if there is NO UPDATE to the information please submit the form electronically so that we know not to send you a form through the mail. IMPORTANT NOTE: The forms should be printed on LEGAL SIZE paper. If you do not have legal size paper, you must modify your printer settings to ensure that the form will fit on 8 ½ X 11 paper. Be sure that all fields – including Section 10 – and barcodes are visible on the printed forms!

After you print the form, BOTH the OWNER and the MANAGING AGENT MUST SIGN AND DATE THE FORM. Photocopied signatures are not valid. Please mail the completed form to The Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Church Street Station, P O Box 3888, New York, NY 10038-3888.

You must also submit payment for property registration. DO NOT SEND A CHECK TO HPD. The registration fee has been billed by the Department of Finance (DOF) with the July Statement of Account of Property Taxes. You can pay the fee Online or by following the instructions on the Statement of Account for mailing in a payment or by visiting a DOF Business Center in person. (For more information on payment options or DOF locations, see the Department of Finance Website.)

Once your registration becomes valid you will receive a receipt of valid registration by mail and an e-mail from HPD (if you provide an e-mail address on your registration) advising that your receipt is available through PROS.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING CONSEQUENCES FOR FAILING TO REGISTER AS REQUIRED:

A VIOLATION MAY BE ISSUED TO YOUR PROPERTY. HPD MAY CHOOSE TO SEEK CIVIL PENALTIES IN HOUSING COURT BASED ON THIS VIOLATION.

IF THE PROPERTY HAS 3 OR MORE UNITS, YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO BRING AN ACTION FOR NONPAYMENT IN HOUSING COURT AGAINST A TENANT OF THIS PROPERTY UNTIL YOU ARE VALIDLY REGISTERD.

YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CERTIFY THE CORRECTION OF VIOLATIONS OR REQUEST A DISMISSAL REQUEST INSPECTION FOR PENDING VIOLATIONS.

If you believe that your property is not required to be registered or if you no longer own the property and do not wish to be contacted about this property in the future, please review the Property Registration Page on our website for the appropriate next steps.

If you need help completing the form or are experiencing any issues with PROS, you can e-mail HPD at register@hpd.nyc.gov or call HPD’s Registration Assistance Unit at (212) 863-7000, Monday through Friday between 9 AM and 4:30 PM.

NYC Department of Sanitation
Launches New Website

The NYC Department of Sanitation has launched a new website: www.nyc.gov/dsny, which combines the separate DSNY and NYC Recycles websites into one comprehensive resource to meet the City’s goals of a fast, direct, and helpful site. It's now mobile-friendly (as is our newsletter!), so you can access information on-the-go. Be sure to check back, as we are updating and adding new content in phases.

NYC Recycles
The new site has three main sections for recycling information: Residents, Schools, and Businesses. Everything you need to know about recycling can be found at: www.nyc.gov/recycle.

Resources
Check out the Resources section to learn about recycling programs for apartment buildings, including e-cycleNYC and re-fashioNYC, which provide free and convenient electronics and textile recycling collection.
Compost and Organic Waste Collection

Whether you’re in our NYC Organics Collection pilot, or want to compost at home or in your community, get information here: www.nyc.gov/compost.

Snow
Curious about the City’s snow removal? We’ve got a section for that, too, under Streets and Sidewalks.

Fuel Oil ConversionsGuidance Document from the DEP

The city is in the final year of phasing out the use of #6 fuel oil. The DEP has developed a guidance document that provides a quick step approach for users who have not completed the conversion process, which includes the proper filling of all documents with the DEP. We would appreciate your sharing this document with your members. If your members are not certain of the status of their equipment or fuel oil type they can click on the link near the bottom of the page titled “DEP Status”. Contact numbers are provided in the document.

CNYC has agreed to help with a comparative study of condominium living and governance in New York City and Toronto being conducted by Professor Setha Low and the Public Space Research Group (PSRG) at the Graduate Center of CUNY. Research associates Jennifer Ortiz and Helen Panagiotopoulos are eager to interview unit owners and board members about their experiences of living in a condo. An interview takes about half an hour and includes general questions about condo life. If you would like to participate or to receive more detailed information about this exciting project, please reply to jortiz1@gc.cuny.edu, noting that you are replying to the CNYC posting. Thank you so much for your interest and participation.